Russia increases jet-powered drone use and AI disinformation

Russia has significantly increased its use of jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in its attacks against Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the deployment of these jet-propelled drones grew fivefold in July compared to the previous month. While jet-powered models accounted for approximately 15% of one-way attack drones in June, they now constitute up to two-thirds of Russia's attack UAV fleet, including advanced Geran-3, Geran-4, and Geran-5 variants.

Parallel to this hardware escalation, Russia is utilizing artificial intelligence to shape battlefield narratives. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Russian military sources have disseminated AI-generated or digitally manipulated images and videos to portray military successes. These include footage presented as recent captures of settlements, which analysts suggest are actually manipulated or older recordings intended to bolster claims of territorial gains.